Have you ever been told that if your spouse–or other loved ones–do not support your Mary Kay efforts or question your expenditures, they are “negative influences.”

Do you find yourself inflating (lying) about your “success” with Mary Kay with friends and loved ones?

Do you find yourself trying to convince yourself that your “success” will come if you a) sacrifice more time, b) invest more money (by going deeper into debt), or c) both?

Do you assign guilt to yourself for not meeting production goals while thinking all of your peers in Mary Kay are successful?

Do you find yourself sacrificing time with your family in order to build your Mary Kay “business?”

Do you feel pressured to attend Mary Kay events, even if it means missing a special event in your child’s life?

Do you find yourself spending money on babysitters just so you can attend Mary Kay events?

Have you ever had your upline (Director or National Sales Director) use your personal information in conversations with you in order to convince you to take actions in a certain way (e.g., recruit more consultants, invest in more inventory, etc.).

Have you ever observed how a person’s “I-Story” is used to recruit more people into Mary Kay

If you answered “yes” to more than one of these, it is time for you to become honest with yourself and others.

Instead of “enriching women’s lives,” Mary Kay may be harming you and others close to you.

8 Responses to "A Self-Test To Determine Whether Mary Kay Is Harming You Or Others"

I am one of these victims, and after coming across this site, I don’t know what to do. I’m $7,000, going on $8,000 in debt, and it is tearing apart my marriage. How do people get out of this? I can’t just quit because I’m paying a personal loan, something that my husband and I are personally tied to. I don’t know what to do.

Alaina, I totally understand your fear. You can send back any product you have purchased from Mary Kay in the past 12 months for a 90% refund. They will also refund you 100% of the tax you paid on said product.

Unfortunately, staying in Mary Kay will only cause more debt. So yes, just quitting IS in your best interest. You can pay off some of that personal loan with the refund you get from returning your products.

My story is here on this site. From the day I signed up til the day I got out… I had invested about the same amount that you have when I realized it was time to cut my losses. I had a “going out of business sale” and offered any product I had on my shelf for 40% off just to get my money back from it. I got rid of a fair amount that way and then sold the rest to a liquidator.

Know this. Only the top 2% of people in Mary Kay make any money. It’s not you, the business model itself is flawed.

There are a group of women (and a few men) just like myself that have lost money in Mary Kay and we’re supporting and helping other women as they find themselves coming out of the pink fog. Please join us at http://www.pinktruth.com. You’ll learn how much this isn’t you… this happens to everyone in Mary Kay. We’d love to have you!

I’m $7,000, going on $8,000 in debt, and it is tearing apart my marriage. How do people get out of this?

They quit! They say, “I’m in debt, it’s not working the way I was told it would work, so I quit!” and then they do.

Whenever you think quitting is bad, remember the Donner Party: they didn’t quit, they refused advice to get off the road they were on … they kept going until they ended up mostly dead and partly eaten.

I can’t just quit because I’m paying a personal loan

You can’t just keep on going deeper into debt, either. The first thing to do when you are in a financuial hole is STOP DIGGING IT DEEPER … stop ordering product, stop going to meetings, stop spending money you don’t have on a business that is going nowhere.

When you say personal loan, what do you mean? Who loaned you the money? And how much?

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Your largest source of reasonably quick cash is the product you have ordered: send it back and use the 90% refund to fill some of that financial hole.

1. As LazyGardens states above: Stop buying, and return what you have for 90%.
2. Repair your marriage (get counseling, even if you and your husband don’t think it’s necessary)
3. Know that you’re not the only one who’s been duped by the MK scam.
4. Go to PinkTruth.com

Go to pinktruth.com and ask this on this discussion boards. There are a lot of women there to help you. The short answer is get a part time job with a regular paycheck. Send inventory back to MK and put the money on the loan.

I’m $7,000, going on $8,000 in debt, and it is tearing apart my marriage. How do people get out of this?

You start by not going any deeper: STOP buying product. STOP going to conferences and meetings.

I can’t just quit because I’m paying a personal loan

Of course you can quit. Use the time you save to get a job that actually has a paycheck every week or two, one that is a straightforward swap of your time for their money.

And when you say “personal loan”, what do you mean? Who loaned you money and how much under what terms? If you send back your products you will get 90% of what you paid … that can go a long way toward repayment.

Hi there, gal friend. You story could have been mine, but I was in debt about $20,000. Staying in just got me in deeper. Please come to pinktruth.com and read our stories. You are not alone, most of us were in trouble when we quit. Quitting was of of the best thing I have ever done. Quitting cut my loses. I was ordering, but I wasn’t making any money. I was able to sell a lot of products, didn’t make money, but cut my loses. If you haven’t been in Mary Kay very long, you might be able to return products and make a big dent on your debt.

When I told my husband about the debt,he was kind but firm. We got through getting things paid for, and our marriage is stronger because we are survivors. Now I am painfully honest about all that I do. He is and was so sweet about everything. I have been out of Mary Kay and I am so glad! Everyday, I dance my freedom as I enjoy being stress free (pretty much, anyway.).